HomeExhibits ArchiveSubverting Silence: Uplifting Marginalized Conversation

Subverting Silence: Uplifting Marginalized Conversation

Welcome to Subverting Silence: Uplifting Marginalized Conversations!

This online exhibit endeavors to explore perspectives that have been pushed to the margins of historical conversations. Using archives on the University of Texas at Austin campus, the creators of this exhibit sought to uplift voices that played significant roles in social and political movements in and around the state of Texas. By highlighting these conversations, we hope to explore why they were left out of mainstream narratives and emphasize the effects of this marginalization. Subverting Silence spotlights stories of immigration, identity, art and music, disability, mental health, feminism, political action, and LGBTQIA+ health in hopes of uplifting these marginalized conversations and the individuals within them.

Exploring the Site

Collections are sets of items that were selected based on their similarities in origin or topic. Exhibits are a collaborative makeup of collections accompanied by additional contextual information communicating a narrative. You can begin exploring this digital archive by browsing through the different exhibits under the “Browse Exhibits” tab or use the “browse by tags” function to see how the themes of separate items and collections interact with one another.

About This Project

This online digital archive was created by the students of Dr. Elon Lang's LAH/HMN350 course, Treasure Hunt in Campus Archives: Giving Voice to Hidden Histories. In this class, students engaged in direct archival research with collections related to social justice at the University of Texas at Austin's Harry Ransom Center, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, and LLILAS Benson Latin American Collection. Students learned about the theoretical approaches to archiving, as well as the role of archives as active cultural heritage institutions. The interrelated Omeka exhibits are part of the students' collaborative capstone projects. The students worked on revamping and adding to previous year’s collections as well as their own. This site aims to showcase some of the University's lesser-known archival holdings and to contextualize the archival material with research the students conducted in the University's libraries.

Students for a Democratic Society, Radical Politics in Austin TX

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Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a progressive activism organization working to impliment revolutionary ideals in America. Originally nonviolent,...

Locked Away: The Hidden Atrocities of Forced Institutionalization

https://s3.amazonaws.com/omeka-net/38133/archive/files/b7e10de971453ecf618f7ba205a9da98.pdf

Throughout American history, families and governance have attempted to control and cure both physical and mental disabilities. This concept is...

Patterns of Feminism

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What unifies feminists across their history in the U.S.? Is it merely their ties to feminism and its values… or...

Mexican American Experiences in the 20th Century: Amplifying a History of Activism and Advocacy

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This exhibit will draw on materials from the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History and the LLILAS Benson Latin American...

Mixed Identities in Texas: Interactions with Majority Culture Groups

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As a borderland state, Texas is a hotspot for cultural melding and mixed identities. However, the cultural landscape of the...

HIV/AIDS in the American South: Rhetoric and Experiences

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This exhibit highlights the rhetoric and experiences of HIV/AIDs in the American South to demonstrate how marginalized populations strived to...

Creating Spaces for Cultural Intersections Through Texas Fine Arts

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This exhibit will use archival findings from various University of Texas repositories to explore the evolution and intersections of fine...